The Early Debate on Poetry and the Poet: Jonson’s Humanism and Marston’s Cynicism during the Poetomachia

Abstract

Este TFG tiene como objetivo analizar las dos corrientes filosóficas durante la Poetomaquia que contribuyeron en parte a crear dos concepciones distintas de la función del poeta y de la poesía. Ben Jonson es representante del Humanismo y por tanto, aboga por la capacidad del poeta de discernir la verdad mediante su arte y el didactismo del mismo. John Marston en cambio cuestiona la divinidad del poeta y niega la posibilidad de la poesía como herramienta didáctica. Considerando estas dos posiciones, estos autores contribuyen de forma temprana al debate sobre la función del poeta y la poesía.

This TFG aims to analyse the two philosophical attitudes during the Poetomachia that partly contributed to the creation of two different understandings of the function of the poet and poetry. Ben Jonson supports Humanism and therefore, he advocates the ability of the poet to discern truth through his art and its didacticism. John Marston instead questions the poet’s divinity and denies the possibility of poetry being a didactic tool. Considering these two positions, these writers make an early contribution to the debate of the function of the poet and poetry.